A Birmingham man "took the law into his own hands" and drove deliberately into a football fan in the middle of the road, killing him almost instantly, a court has heard.

Christopher Priest, 26, died on April 20 last year after he was struck by a car on Aston Hall Road, Birmingham, shortly after Aston Villa's 5-1 win over Birmingham City.

Lee Mockble, 21, of Robin Hood Lane, Hall Green, was at the wheel of the Volkswagen Golf which hit Mr Priest. He denies murder and causing death by dangerous driving.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, jurors heard how Aston Villa fan Mr Priest had attended the match, at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, with a group of friends. Mockble had not been at the derby and the fatal crash stemmed not from club rivalry but from a glass-throwing incident close to the ground, the prosecution said.

The court heard that following the game, which kicked off at 12pm, Mr Priest and his friends went to the Aston Villa Social Club for a drink before setting off down Aston Hall Road with the intention of catching a bus to a pub in the Erdington area of Birmingham, just a short distance from Mr Priest's Sutton Coldfield home. At the same time - around 2.45pm - Mockble and two passengers were driving along the same road with their windows wound down.

Christopher Hotten QC told the court that Daniel Brown, a friend of Mr Priest, launched an "unprovoked attack" on the group in the car - hurling a pint-glass of lager at them. The glass shattered, smashing the car's windscreen and cutting the front-seat passenger's face, Mr Hotten said.

Mr Hotten told the jury that Mr Mockble and his passengers had a "clear choice" and could have left the scene to seek advice or report the incident to police.

He added: "Mr Mockble and his friends could, if they chose, have spent the next hour making witness statements and contacting Mr Mockble's insurance company. Sadly, that was not what Mr Mockble did. What Mr Mockble did, we say, was to take the law into his own hands."

Immediately following the incident, Mockble drove to a nearby supermarket car park, where the damage to the car was inspected. The court heard that Mockble then "executed a rapid U-turn", driving "significantly in excess of the 30mph speed limit" in the direction on Mr Priest and his friends. Mockble drove directly for Mr Priest on the wrong side of the road, without attempting to swerve or brake, Mr Hotten told the jury.

"Mr Mockble deliberately drove into the wrong carriageway and at Christopher Priest," he said, adding: "There is evidence that members of the group threw objects at the Volkswagen. There is evidence that Mr Priest gestured at the Volkswagen but he was unable to get out of the way. The car neither swerved nor braked."